Ball-cleaning device.



PATENTED MAR; 14, 1905.

H. D. DAY. BALL CLEANING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 4, 1904.

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w v a 'd' UNITED STATES Patented March 14, 1905' HOWVARD D. DAY, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

BALL-CLEANING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 784,662, dated March 14, 1905.

Application filed January 4, 1904:. Serial No.187,673.

To It whom, it nuty concern:

Be itknown thatl, HOWARD D. DAY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented new and useful Improvements in Ball-Cleaning Devices, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to improvements in devices for cleaning golf-balls;and its principal object is to furnish a more convenient and efficient means of cleaning golf-balls in the course of play than have hitherto been provided and one which shall be accessible to all players in common.

Hitherto the cleaning of the ball has been accomplished in two principal ways namely, either by means of cleaning devices carried about by individual players, such as wet sponges carried in portable rubber bags, or by brushes rigidly fixed to the side of a water-tank or to the side of a sand-box upon which the ball is rubbed by hand after being dipped in the water and sand. Both of these methods are inconvenient, inefficient, and unpleasant for reasons which are obvious. By the use of my device the cleaning of the ball becomes far less laborious and unpleasant, since the handling of the ball is performed entire] y by the machine. Moreover, the work of my device is far more efficient and thorough and is performed far more quickly and with less injury to the paint upon the ball than when performed by the old methods.

In carrying out the objects of my invention I use a movable brush, which is preferably a rotatable brush, a ball-holder adjacent to the brush adapted to hold the-ball in contact with the brush, and in the best form of my invention a wetting device for the brush.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an embodiment of my invention, Figure 1 shows the device in side elevation, Fig. 2 in end elevation. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 a plan View of the device.

Like letters of reference indicate similar parts in all the figures.

The circular brush a is mounted in a tank 0 upon a shaft (0, workingin bearings 0, fixed in the sides of the tank.

The brush may be revolved by means of the crank-arms 7;, fixed to either end of the shaft outside of the tank. Tank 0 is open at the top, and the opening is spanned by a bridge-piece it, which supports at'its middle a bottomless box I), so located that the upper periphery of the brush projects slightly within the box. The tank is partly filled with water, so that the brush as it revolves becomes thoroughly saturated. The tank a is preferably made of sheetmetal, such as galvanized iron, and may be supported in any suitable or convenient fashion by means of legs, as shown at (.Z. A convenient mode of setting up the tank is to place it over a sandbox, shown in the drawings as the rectangular wooden box B. The legs (Z may be made of angle-iron or of angled sheet metal riveted or soldered to the sides of the tank. The tank is preferably constructed with curved or approximately circular sides, as shown, for reasons which will be more fully pointed out hereinafter. The shaft 0 may be of any suitable materialas, for instance, a piece of brass piping-and the bearings 0 are preferably soldered into the ends of the tank. The ends of the shaft (1/ project beyond the walls of the tank a distance suflicient to enable the crank-arms to be fastened thereto by any suitable means, such as set-screws z. The crank arms Z: not only serve as a means for turning the brush, but also to prevent longitudinal movement of the shaft. Midway of the length of the shaft 1/ the circular brush w is secured by means of the set-screw Q and has a diam eter less than that of the tank. The brush is composed of bristles or fibrous material set radially along the periphery of the disk \V, which may be of wood or other suitable material, the face of the brush being a little wider than the diameter of a golf-ball. The opening at the top of the tank 0 is large enough to permit the brush to be introduced or to be removed. The cover or bridge h, which spans the opening, is preferably made of cast metal, and the bottomless rectangular box 7), supported thereby, is preferably cast integral with said bridge. The bridge it rests at its ends upon the edges of the curved sides of the tank and maybe firmly secured thereto in any manner, as by being provided with lugs g, pro ecting 1nto construction the bridge or cover may readily be removed for the purpose of removing the brush when desired. The width of the bridge it is considerably less than the width of the can or tank 0 at its middle part, so that an opening is left at either side to permit the ready filling of the tank with water. The box 7/ is slightly wider in the direction of the plane of -revolution of the brush than the diameter of a golf-ball. It is also longer transversely to the direction of the plane of the brush than the diameter of the golf-ball to enable the latter to have a certain amount of lateral play, as will presently be described. The inside surfaces of the box 7) are made smooth to lessen the friction upon the ball and prevent injury to the coating of paint thereon.

The operation of the device is as follows: The ball to be cleaned is dropped into the box I), and the brush is rotated by means of the handle of the crank-arm 7;. The brush being partly immersed in the water, as it rotates becomes thoroughly saturated with water, and by the centrifugal force caused by the rotation of the brush most of the water is carried to the outer tips of'the bristles, from which it is deposited uponthe surfaces of the ball across which the bristles rub and thoroughly flushes the ball. The water which tends to fly from the brush is caught by the bridge I and the sides of the tank, so that any spattering of the person operating the device is prevented. The ball rests in the box against the ends of the bristles and is held in contact with the brush by gravity with a uniform force sufficient to enable the bristles to perform their rubbing and cleaning action, but not suflicient to scrape the paint from the ball. As the brush rotates the ball is carried against the side of the box and tends to rotate in a direction opposite to the direction of the rotation of the brush. By its friction against the side of the box, however, its motion of rotation is retarded, so that the rubbing or brushing effect of the bristles insured and the whole surface of the ball is sooner or later subjected to the brushing action. The length of the box being greater than the diameter of the ball, as previouslydescribed, permits lateral movement of the ball over the face of the brush, thus further insuring the action of the brush upon all parts of the ball. This lateral movement of the ball is accomplished in part by accidental irregularities in the length of bristles of the brush and in the surface of the ball, but more particularly and more positively by having the bristles alternately longer on one side or edge of the brush and then on the other, as shown in Fig. 3. By thus alternating the longer and shorter bristles about the periphery of the brush a surface is provided which causes the ball to be moved from side to side in the box. The ball having been cleaned in the manner above described may readily be removed by thrusting a linger into the box at one side of the ball and lifting it out, the box being, as above described, slightly wider than the diameter of the ball.

A golf-ball which has been in play accumulates a certain amount of dirt, small pieces of grass, and the like. This having been removed by my cleaning apparatus is deposited in the water contained within the tank 0, where it accumulates with considerable rapidity if several balls are cleaned without change of water. It is therefore necessary to provide means for emptying the tank of the accumulated dirt and water, and to this end I have provided the emptying or liberating means, which I will now describe. At the bottom of the tank 0 l have provided a two-way vent e, which may be suitably fitted and soldered within a hole in the tank. The openings of this vent extend in the direction of the curved sides of the tank. From either branch of this vent leads a flexible pipe or tube 1), to the free ends of which are fitted short cylindrical nozzles 72', provided with rings. Each tube p is of such length that its free end may be held above the normal level of the water in the tank. Fastened to the curved sides of the tank near the top are brackets or hooks a" for engaging with rings 11' and supporting the ends of the tubes. The advantage of having the tank a circular or curved in form will now be obvious, since if it were rectangular a longer pipe would be required, and, furthermore, the angles of the tank would tend to bruise and break the pipe. 'hen not in use, the tubes have their nozzles supported by hooks .z", and being thusheld with their ends above the level of the water in the tank no flow from the tank is permitted. WVhen, however, it is desired to draw Water off from the tank, either nozzle may be taken down from its hook and brought below the level of the liquid in the tank, when the How will begin and will continue so long as the nozzle is held below the water-level or until the water is exhausted. By this contrivance all valves with moving parts are dispensed with and the water and sediment in the tank are allowed to pass freely off through unobstructed pipes. lf valves of any kind were used, they would quickly become clogged with the sediment from the tank and become worn by the action of the grit and dirt and could never be positive in action or secure against leak for the reason that a stick or stone caught in the valve would prevent it from being fully closed.

By mounting the device upon a sand-box B,

near the sand-box. By my construction the water used in the cleansing apparatus may also be used for moistening the sand through the use of the emptying or liberating device of the cleansing apparatus.

What I claim is- 1. A device for cleaning balls comprising a brush; a support on which the brush is movably mounted, and a ball-holder on the support for holding the ball loosely and preventing bodily rotary movement of the ball with the brush.

2. A device for cleaning golf-balls comprising a brush'; a support on which the brush is movably mounted; a stationary ball-holder adjacent to the brush adapted to hold a ball in contact with thebrush, and means for wetting the brush.

3. Adevice for cleaning golf-balls, comprising a rotatable brush; a support on which the brush is mounted; and a ball-holder adjacent the brush adapted to hold a ball by gravity in contact with the brush, and means for wetting the brush.

4. A device for cleaning golf-balls, compris ing a rotatable brush; a support on which the brush is. mounted; a ball-holder adjacent to the brush adapted to hold a ball in contact with the brush by gravity and consisting of a box open on the side toward the brush, whereby a ball in contact with both the brush and one wall of the box will be allowed imperfect freedom of motion of rotation under the influence of the brush, and means for wetting the brush.

5. Adevice for cleansing golf-balls comprising a tank, a brush rotating therein, and a ball-holder adjacent to said brush and adapted to hold a ball by gravity in contact with the brush.

6. A device for cleaning golf-balls comprisgravity in contact with the brush and so proportioned as to allow it freedom of lateral movement, said brush being provided with bristles of uneven length laterally of the periphery of the brush, whereby a lateral as well as la rotary movement will be imparted to the ba 7. A device for cleaning golf-balls comprising a tank open at the top, a rotatable brush mounted therein, a removable bridge spanning the top of the tank and of the brush, and a ball-receptacle upon said bridge open at the bottom and adapted to hold a ball by gravity in contact with the brush.

8. A device for cleaning golf-balls comprising a tank open at the top, a rotatable brush mounted therein, a removable cover or bridge spanning the top of the tank and open at the sides to admit of the convenient filling of the tank, and a ball-receptacle upon said bridge open at the bottom and adapted to hold a ball by gravity in contact with the brush.

9. A device for cleaning golf-balls comprising the tank 0, brushe mounted therein and provided with crank-handles k, ball-receptacle Z) suitably supported above said brush, emptying-tubep and bracket rr/ all organized and arranged substantially as shown and described.

10. A device for cleaning balls comprising a brush; a water-tank in which the brush is movably mounted, a ball-holder for rotatably supporting a ball in position to be acted upon by said brush and for holding said ball against bodily movement with the brush, and means substantially as described for emptying the tank.

Signed by me at Providence, Rhode Island, this 31st day of December, 1903.

HOW'ARD D. DAY.

Witnesses:

FREDERICK H. READ, EDWARD H. \Vnnns. 

